The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 252 Firefight from Three Miles Away

It's time to eat, it's time to die.

A few days later, the Jin army came again.

This time, the Jin army displayed an attitude of wanting to fight a decisive battle.

The central army consisted of three hundred Iron Pagoda soldiers, each wearing double iron helmets with long bridles around the perimeter, beneath which were felt pillows. They were grouped in pairs, linked together by leather ropes. The entire army was clad in two layers of iron armor, with felt underneath—the protection was incredibly thick, even their faces were completely covered, leaving only their eyes visible. The warhorses were also heavily armored, with only their hooves protruding.

The cavalrymen who were helping them set up the field were also wearing half-body armor today, with leather knee pads on their knees and leather wrapped around their calves. Even the warhorses were covered in a layer of light armor.

Upon seeing this attire, many rebel soldiers realized that the "Hooked Horses" actually had two types of uniforms.

One type is the pure light cavalry mode, which has almost no armor and focuses on being lightweight and fast.

The second type is the one in front of us, the half-body armor mode, which is designed to be effective in tough battles.

Yue Wenxuan had read in historical records that even against weaker opponents, the "Guai Zi Ma" (a type of cavalry unit) could fight independently. For example, in the Battle of Yishui, the famous Jin general Wanyan Loushi defeated a Western Xia army of 3 men with only 1000 cavalry by retreating and then ambushing them. He used the "Guai Zi Ma" equipped with half-body armor.

Because the Ironclad Cavalry cannot use tactics like "retreating to ambush"! They can only charge forward relentlessly, without any "retreat" option.

In addition to the main cavalry force, several puppet army units also arrived, pushing a large number of shield carts and catapults, just like last time.

However, this time the rebels operated differently.

The Jin army was advancing slowly, still three miles away from the rebel army's formation, when Gong Erniangzi waved her hand and ordered, "Fire!"

"fire!"

The messenger's voice carried far away, a distance that startled even the rebels themselves. Many low-ranking soldiers and auxiliary troops had no idea of ​​the true range of the Red Cannons; they had only seen them fire a mile in the previous battle and assumed they could only fire a mile.

Unexpectedly, three miles away, Gong Er Niangzi started shouting to fire the cannons.

Is it so unbelievable?

Qi Chongli paused for a moment, then began firing: "Fire! Bomb those sons of bitches of the Jin invaders to death! Kill those sons who have no anuss..."

The people next to him immediately stepped back to avoid getting their hands on the old man's spittle. This old man usually seemed like a very refined person, but he liked to swear as soon as he went to the battlefield. It was unbearable.

At this point, the Jin army was unaware that they were about to be attacked, and the troops were still maintaining a vigilant posture, advancing slowly.

They planned to follow the same strategy as last time: advance to a position about a mile ahead of the rebel army, form ranks, and then slowly push forward. Guwei was still explaining the tactics to the strategists around him: "In a moment, the catapults will go up first to attract the enemy's firearms. Once the enemy's firearms and catapults are raining down on our catapult positions, the 'Guai Zi' will immediately go in first. You're wearing half-body armor today, so as long as you don't get within ten zhang (approximately 33 meters), the enemy's muskets might not be able to penetrate your armor. You'll fire arrows from a distance of about ten zhang! Disrupt the enemy's formation, and then the iron pontoons..."

He had just finished speaking when he heard a loud "boom," the familiar sound of cannons.

Guwei: "?"

His group of muggers: "?"

Are you kidding me? We're still three miles away!
Just as they were thinking this, the shells came.

"boom!"

With a loud bang, a shell landed on the open ground next to the army, creating a large crater. Soil and sand flew everywhere. It was too far away from the Jin army to cause any real casualties, but it gave the Jin army a big fright.

"They really flew all that far?" Guwei exclaimed in surprise. "So, they deliberately let us get close last time to attack us?"

The Moukes were also extremely surprised.

All that could be heard was the whooshing sound of cannonballs cutting through the air, and three more iron balls came whistling through the air, crashing to the ground with a thud. They all landed far away from the army formation, hitting nothing, but the morale of the entire Jin army formation was greatly shaken!
It was way too far, far beyond the psychological tolerance of all the Jin soldiers.

Guwei panicked and waved his hand, shouting, "Speed ​​up! Speed ​​up!" Who the hell could stay calm when someone was firing cannons from so far away? Right now, everyone just wished they had two more legs so they could teleport to the enemy in an instant.

"Charge! Run faster!"

The Han army pushed their shield carts and catapults forward with all their might.

It's fine when it's slow, but problems arise when it goes fast.

These catapults and shield carts were hastily made. Many of the carts' axles were simply carved from raw wood without being dried, and some were not even rounded enough.

They're fine when moved slowly, but when moved quickly, all sorts of problems arise.

A trebuchet's wheel came off while it was in motion, and the entire trebuchet made a creaking sound, tilted to the side, and crashed to the ground with a loud bang, startling the surrounding fake gold thieves into a panic.

A shield wagon broke its axle, and the wagon snapped in half with a crack. The huge door panel collapsed, and several soldiers were the first to step in, quickly raising their hands to support it, like Li Jing, the Heavenly King who holds up a pagoda, temporarily stabilizing the door panel. However, their hands were trembling uncontrollably, and they shouted to their comrades beside them, "What are you looking at? Come and save us!"

The Jin cavalry were also unwilling to march alongside the Han soldiers, as they were too easily hit by cannon fire. The cavalry immediately flew to the flanks, away from the infantry formation.

Before the battle even began, the Jin army was already in complete chaos, even more chaotic than a kindergarten without its teacher present.

Gu Wei was completely stunned. He roared, "Don't panic! Maintain formation and advance! Don't panic!"

One of the Khitan soldiers was terrified and tried to run away, which angered Bali Yuanshan, who chased after him and struck the Khitan soldier with a Prajna Palm, knocking him to the ground on the spot. He roared, "No one is allowed to make a ruckus, keep moving forward!"

The Han soldiers were in the worst condition; even their commander, Zhang Cheng, was so weak he wanted to run away, let alone his own soldiers.

"Advance quickly, hurry, get within half a mile as soon as possible so the catapults can return fire."

"Boom boom boom!"

Their response was yet another four cannon shots, and four more solid iron projectiles flew toward the Jin army.

The Jin army, gritting their teeth, advanced through the rebel army's artillery fire...

"what!"

An unfortunate soldier had his leg broken by a shell and died from the shock.

"boom!"

A catapult was hit and fell apart.

Seeing this, the cavalry charged without waiting any longer...

Since they're wearing half-body armor today, as long as they don't get too close, the muskets might not be able to penetrate it. Let's go up and harass them first, giving the infantry a chance to advance.

On the left and right flanks, 1500 elite cavalrymen each, totaling 3,000 riders, charged towards the flanks of the rebel army.

And at the same time...

Zhang Dashu, standing in the ranks of the rebel army, exclaimed excitedly, "Brothers, our heavy muskets are finally going to be used in actual combat for the first time!"

But Zhang Yong roared at him, "Big Tree, don't make a move! Tell your heavy artillery battalion to watch the show! Don't fire a single bullet before the Iron Pagoda arrives!"

Zhang Dashu: "Huh? Oh dear!"

(End of this chapter)